Ericka Almeida, who competed twice under the UFC banner in 2015, is accusing ex-coach Herman Gutierrez of assault.
Fantastico first reported the news, while also stating that Ericka’s sister, Ellen Almeida, has also accused Gutierrez of assault.
The UFC veteran was 17 when she and Gutierrez began their relationship in 2007, despite that fact that the then 38 year old coach was married at the time. The alleged assaults and physical abuse started after their relationship began, with Ericka accusing Gutierrez of verbally and physically assaulting her.
Ellen, who dated Gutierrez at the same time as Ericka, even though she allegedly didn’t know of his relationship with Ericka, started their relationship began when she joined Gutierrez’s fighting team. Ericka even wrote in her diary once that “every single month one of us gets beat up. Almost every single day he threatens us.”
There are also phone calls between Gutierrez and Ericka that were obtained by Fantastico in 2017, with Gutierrez being heard threatening the UFC veteran and making other derogatory statements to her. A video was also obtained by Fantastico that a bloodied Ericka recorded on her phone after allegedly being physically assaulted by Gutierrez, with Ericka saying:
“Nobody deserves this, nobody. I never thought this would happen to me. But if something happens, it was Herman who came to my home to do this.”
Gutierrez has denied the allegations brought against him and has even questioned why there were no charges brought against the coach in the past, while Almeida claims that she feared for her family is why the charges weren’t filed at that time.
It was a friend of Ericka’s, who has since moved to a different city and is engaged to another person, to file charges against Gutierrez. Ericka’s lawyer is also attempting to get an attempted murder charge added to the charges levied against Gutierrez.
As of this writing, no arrests have been made in the case, but it should be noted that Gutierrez is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
